BAA Comet Section : 2001 Kreutz comets

Updated 2002 January 29

Further to IAUC 7548, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found by J. Danaher (C/1998
B2), X. Leprette (Nov. comets), and M. Oates (Dec. comets) on SOHO
website images taken with the C2 coronograph; C/1998 B2 was also
visible in C3 data. The reduced observations and orbital elements
by B. G. Marsden are given on the MPECs cited below. [IAUC 7558, 2001
January 9]

Further to IAUC 7567, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
several additional Kreutz sungrazing comets from SOHO C2
coronagraph data. Comets C/2000 H5 and C/2000 X8 were found by D.
Biesecker, and the remaining comets were found at the SOHO website
by M. Oates. The reduced observations and orbital elements by B. G.
Marsden appear on the MPECs cited below. [IAUC 7572, 2001 January 25]

Further to IAUC 7572, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
two additional Kreutz sungrazing comets, found in C3 coronagraph
data at the SOHO website by M. Boschat (C/2001 A4) and M. Oates
(C/2001 B3). Though C/2001 B3 was visible in many C3 images, it
faded before it entered the field-of-view of the C2 coronagraph.
The reduced observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden
appear on the MPECs cited below. [IAUC 7573, 2001 January 27]

Further to IAUC 7573 and 7580, D. Hammer reports his
measurements for additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found by M.
Oates on SOHO website images. Both objects were visible in the C2
coronagraph, but only C/2001 C3 (which also developed a long, thin
tail but faded rapidly as it entered the C2 field-of-view on Feb.
4.8 UT) was also visible in C3 data. The reduced observations and
orbital elements by B. G. Marsden are included on MPEC 2001-C23.
[IAUC 7582, 2001 February 13]

Further to IAUC 7585, D. Biesecker reports his measurements
for a comet (2001 C6) in images obtained by the C2 and C3 coronagraphs and
found by M. Boschat on SOHO website images. The reduced
observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on MPEC
2001-D42. [IAUC 7601, 2001 March 21]

2001 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl.
Feb. 13.888 22 15.4 -15 34

Further to IAUC 7601, D. Biesecker reports his measurements
for two Kreutz sungrazing comets found on LASCO C2 coronagraph
images by X. Leprette at the SOHO website. The reduced
observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on MPEC
2001-F52. [IAUC 7606, 2001 April 2]

Further to IAUCs 7585 and 7606, D. Hammer reports his
measurements of another very faint Kreutz sungrazing comet [C/1998 V7
(SOHO)] found by
M. Oates in archival C2 coronagraph images at the SOHO website.
The reduced measurements and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden
appear on MPEC 2001-G34. [IAUC 7612, 2001 April 23]

1998 UT R.A. (2000) Decl.
Nov. 7.221 14 43.9 -17 34

Further to IAUC 7612, D. Hammer and D. Biesecker report
measurements by Hammer for several additional sungrazing comets
found with SOHO, with all but C/2001 E1 being of Kreutz type. The
reduced observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear
on the MPECs cited below. Comets C/2001 F2, C/2001 G2, and C/2001
H1 were detected with both the C2 and C3 coronagraphs, while the
remaining comets were visible only with C2. The comets were found
at the SOHO website by M. Boschat (C/2001 F2), S. Hoenig (C/2001
G2), T. Scarmato (C/2001 H2), X. Leprette (C/2001 H2, C/2001 H3,
C/2001 H4), and M. Oates (remaining comets). C/2001 G2 saturated
the C2 images (though the comet was partially obscured by the
occulting pylon). C/2001 G3 was very faint. [IAUC 7613, 2001 April 25]

IUAC 7631, 2001 May 23]
Further to IAUCs 7613 and 7631, D. A. Biesecker has reported
measurements by D. Hammer of another comet (2001 K4) found by Biesecker on
LASCO C2 images obtained with the SOHO spacecraft. The reduced
observations and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on MPEC
2001-K27. [IAUC 7634, 2001 May 28]

2001 UT R.A. (2000) Decl.
May 22.436 3 58.3 +18 47

Further to IAUC 7634, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
three additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found by M. Oates, K.
Cernis, and T. Scarmato on LASCO C2 coronagraph images posted at
the SOHO website. The reduced astrometry and orbital elements by
B. G. Marsden appear on MPEC 2001-L09. [IAUC 7641, 2001 June 6]

Further to IAUC 7641, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
five additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found on LASCO C2
coronagraph images obtained with the SOHO spacecraft; C/2001 L3 was
also detected in C3 images. The reduced astrometry and orbital
elements by B. G. Marsden appear on the MPECs cited below. [IAUC 7642,
2001 June 8]

Further to IAUC 7642, D. Hammer reports his measurements for
six additional Kreutz sungrazing comets on LASCO C2 coronagraph
images obtained with the SOHO spacecraft; comets C/2001 L8 and
C/2001 L9 were found by X. Leprette and T. Scarmato, respectively,
on images at the SOHO website, while the remaining comets were
found by M. Oates. C/1997 K7 appears pointlike with no apparent
tail. The reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden
appear on MPEC 2001-M06. [IAUC 7646, 2001 June 20]

Further to IAUC 7650, D. Biesecker and D. Hammer report
measurements of three additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found by
K. Cernis, X. Leprette, and M. Oates on SOHO website images.
C/2001 M7 and C/2001 M8 were visible in both the C2 and C3
instruments, while C/2001 M9 was visible only in C2 images. The
reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on
the MPECs cited below. [IAUC 7655, 2001 July 2]

Further to IAUC 7655, D. Hammer reports measurements of three
additional comets found by M. Oates, X. Leprette, and S. Hoenig on
SOHO website images. All three objects were visible with the C2
coronagraph, and C/2001 O1 was also visible in C3 images. The
reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on
the MPEC cited below; C/2001 N1 does not seem to be a Kreutz
sungrazer, whereas the other two comets do. [IAUC 7667, 2001 July 19]

Further to IAUC 7667, astrometry (measured by D. Hammer,
reduced by B. G. Marsden) and orbital elements are given on the
MPECs cited below for two additional sungrazing comets found by T.
Scarmato and S. Hoenig, respectively, on SOHO website images:
[IAUC 7689, 2001 August 24]

Further to IAUC 7689, D. Hammer reports astrometric
measurements of a comet found by Chen Dong Hua on SOHO website
images. The object was first detected (at the position given
below) in LASCO C2 coronagraph images, moving southward from
directly underneath the occulter; the comet brightened and showed a
nice tail before entering the C3 field-of-view, where it began to
fade, as indicated by the following additional V magnitudes
provided by D. Biesecker and Hammer: Aug. 25.393 UT, 7.6; 25.463,
7.4; 25.977, 5.7; 26.102, 4.8; 26.221, 5.2; 26.227, 4.6; 26.446,
5.8; 26.811, 8.0. [IAUC 7694, 2001 August 28]

Measurements by D. Hammer (and by Hammer and D. Biesecker for
C/2001 R2) have been reported for six more comets discovered on
SOHO website images (cf. IAUC 7694). Comet C/2001 Q7, found by R.
Kracht, appeared pointlike with no apparent tail on C2 coronagraph
images; this object does not have a Kreutz-type orbit, and
Biesecker reports the following V magnitudes for C/2001 Q7: Aug.
21.868 UT, 8.1; 21.893, 8.0; 21.921, 8.4; 21.936, 8.5; 21.977, 8.4;
21.993, 8.6. The remaining comets all appear to be Kreutz
sungrazers: C/2001 R2 (found by S. Hoenig), C/2001 R4 (found by X.
Zhou), and C/2001 R5 (found by D. Johnson), were all visible in
both the C2 and C3 instruments, while C/2001 R3 (found by M. Meyer)
and C/1996 A2 (found by R. Gorelli) were only detected in C3 images.
C/2001 R2 reached peak mag 2.5-3 and showed a tail at least 0.75
deg long in C3 images. C/2001 R4 and C/2001 R5 each showed a short
tail. Astrometric reductions and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden
appear on the MPECs cited below.

Further to IAUC 7746, D. Hammer reports his measurements of
additional sungrazing comets found on SOHO website images by X. M.
Zhou (C/2001 T5), R. Kracht (C/2001 T6), M. Oates (C/2001 T7), and
S. Hoenig (C/2001 U7). All the objects were seen in the C2
coronagraph except for C/2001 T5 (the only non-Kreutz object, seen
only in C3); C/2001 T7 and C/2001 U7 were also seen in C3. The
reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on
the MPECs cited below.

[IAUC 7750, 2001 November 10]
Further to IAUC 7750, D. Hammer reports his measurements of
additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found on SOHO website images by
R. Kracht (C/2001 U8, C/2001 U10), X. M. Zhou (C/2001 U9), T.
Scarmato (C/2001 V1), and A. and M. Mimeev (C/2001 V2). All the
objects were seen in the C2 coronagraph. According to D.
Biesecker, C/2001 U9 was a bright comet, visible from the edge of
the C3 field-of-view until it disappeared behind the C2 occulter;
it appears to have saturated the detectors in both telescopes. The
reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on
the MPECs cited below.

[IAUC 7759, 2001 November 21]
Further to IAUC 7759, D. Hammer reports his measurements of an
additional Kreutz sungrazing comet found by X. Leprette on SOHO
website images that were taken with the C3 coronagraph. The
reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on
MPEC 2001-V60.

1996 UT R.A. (2000) Decl.
Nov. 8.115 14 43.0 -18 55

[IAUC 7760, 2001 November 23]

Further to IAUC 7760, D. Hammer reports his measurements of
additional Kreutz sungrazing comets found by A. Mimeev (C/2001 V5),
X. Leprette (C/2001 W4), and X. Zhou (remaining comets) on SOHO
website images that were taken with the C2 coronagraph. The
reduced astrometry and orbital elements by B. G. Marsden appear on
MPEC 2001-X02.

Further to IAUC 7764, several additional comets have been
found on SOHO website images by S. Hoenig (C/2001 X4, X9), M. Meyer
(C/2001 X5, X6), M. Boschat (C/2001 X7, Y5), A. Mimeev (C/2001 X8),
and X. Zhou (C/2001 Y2, Y3, Y4). Astrometry (measurements by D.
Hammer, reduction by B. G. Marsden) and orbital elements appear on
the MPECs cited below. All but C/2001 X8 (q about 0.037 AU, i
about 72 deg) appear to be Kreutz sungrazers; all the comets were
visible in the C2 coronograph (C/2001 Y5, which was fairly bright
with a long tail, was also visible in C3).

[IAUC 7797, 2002 January 19]
Here is a list of the latest SOHO discoveries, with the date of the
comet, date of discovery, coronagraph and discoverer.
Published by Jonathan Shanklin. Jon Shanklin - jds@ast.cam.ac.uk